Only One Left
by the-voiceless
Summary: It's been 20 years since famous teenage wizard Harry Potter has survived the destruction of the Wizard World. Thrown into an unexpected adventure Harry joins Tess, Joel, and Ellie to secure the future of mankind before extinction is permanent forever. Now being the only wizard on the planet, he must do what he must to survive the elements of the new world he must call home.


Chapter 1

His once glimmering golden mirage was gone. That high towered mysterious magical Institute tumbled and crumbled on itself like a pile of Legos while the burning fire licked inside its own belly, eating itself. His home, his castle, now lay in total waste and complete demolition. Maybe that was the worst and he already knew that everything would never be the change. Retreating from his memory lane, the young man blinked himself back to reality, shaking his head. The young man walked in the shadows of the buildings hauling a big soldier's knapsack over his aching shoulder while keeping two sharp eyes out for Clickers, pushing past fuzzy cattails all around him. His legs strode through the murky water, pushing past cars and buses and aiming for a dry sidewalk.

Upon a bright red wall in Times Square there were pictures and posters of people, missing or dead (or walking undead). There were pictures and announcements of missing mothers, fathers, nephews, nieces, and children. Empty candle jars sat along the cobblestone filled with rainwater and dirt, crusted with neglect and age. It was a place of endless worship and it was also a place of mourning, a temple of the dead. Tucking his scruffy hair in his jacket hood, the young man walked solemnly to his boss.

The sunset, beaming orange, began to fade behind the foggy skyscrapers looming in the sky. It would get dark, soon. He threw his knapsack over his other shoulder and jumped upon a large steely diesel truck, pulling his body weight up until his arms ached. He jumped upon the frame of a window, crawling through. He looked below him. Seeing the women was the worst because they were so inhuman, screaming so loudly like banshees. Throwing a brick in the opposite direction, his legs jumped, rolled, and sprinted towards an open door into a vast tilted building. It was a huge, rectangular hall with a high domed ceiling. A balcony ran all around on top, supported by an arched hallway below.

The corridor on one side was lined with another set of open arches leading to the wild gardens. The young man wriggled his toes in the deep pile of the red carpets on the marble floor. In one corner, a silk-covered divan reposed, strewn with jeweled cushions and velvet holsters. Tossing his knapsack upon the second floor, he latched his right foot into a crevice and pulled himself up. He looked behind him. He wasn't being followed. Slipping a toothpick from his jacket pocket, he thought long and hard about Tess's demands for ration cards.

The hallway before him was riddled with the dead. Bodies, pale and blue, lay naked everywhere in unnatural and utterly horrific positions casting green spores into the air. The young man slipped his mask from his backpack and walked across the bodies carefully balancing his body weight. With the hallway behind him, he opened Room 267 and entered with a shove. It wasn't his room, but it was everyone's room. Here, he waited for Tess to arrive.

Slipping his boots off, he poured out the rain water and wringed out his socks too. He couldn't risk catching a fever. Flopping onto a cushioned seat covered with silver duct tape, his hands wrapped around eachother in a tight knot. The cold was coming. And so was she.

"Harry?"

A voice called.

"Harry…?"

"In here," he responded, spitting out the toothpick and lifting himself up.

"Jesus, its gettin' cold these days…" Tess entered through the window, dusting off her pants and wiping her forehead. "Hey."

"Hey."

"You get it?"

"Yea. But it ain't enough like last time, Tess."

She picked up the cards, "Damn. Looks like the government is gettin' lazy. Sons of bitches. This won't cover shit for us this month."

The young man stepped forward to the cabinet, "What does he say?"

"Who?"

"Joel," he took out two flutes and a jar of whiskey.

"Nothing. "

"Nothing?" he poured a glass.

"Just that the supplies are running low here and there. Ain't much these days. He figures we'll find something out in the west. I say different though."

He gave her a glass, "Tess, it's not working out too well. For both of us. When I was out there I saw them kill more people again. They're lining them up like dogs and giving it to them in the head."

"More than last time?"

"More than usual," he gulped the burning liquid. "It's not looking good. I can't go out there, again. It's getting dangerous. With the government and quarantine and all…"

She tossed back her drink and slammed it lens down," Well, shit, boy. What do you think we do? Teach Sunday school? Work as a goddamn librarian?"

"I agree with Joel," the young man walked towards the window, "Let's go somewhere out West. We can always get Billy and round up something out of something. You know there's always a way out of anything."

She sighed.

"You remind me of him, now," she smiled, looking at the ration cards. "Alright, new plan. You come back with me and we'll get this squared away and we talk 'bout it first. We vote. Then do what we do best."

She picked up her gun and tightened her holster.

Harry followed her out the window.

It was dark already. He could see the stars glint in the sky. He followed Tess through the large complicated rat maze of this godforsaken metropolis until they came to a large warehouse stuck between a bad place and sin city. She yanked open a sliding metallic door entering gun first and instinct second while he looked around.

"You come here often?" he asked.

"Once in a while. I'll count my lucky stars if we find something like this out west."

"Every once in a while, I think you and Joel has been meaning to go out west…"

"Me? Shit, it don't matter. Just as long as I got something to look forward to tomorrow," she lifted a garage door for him. He crawled under. She let go with a grunt, "Even if it does mean traveling somewhere out…"

Harry followed her through the warehouse until they came to an upstairs room lit with a few candles to fight against the darkness. There he saw a large hulking figure standing to the window with two crossed arms and a rifle strapped to his back. He was always intimidated by his figure but that didn't give him a reason to not admire his skills. Tess patted his back and gave him the cards.

"Is this all there is?"

"That's what I said," Tess responded, looking at the boy.

"How the hell is this gon' get us tru'the month?" Joel slapped the cards on a table. "It's not enough for a week. Is this all you found?"

"It's all they had and it was all I could get."

Joel looked at Tess, "This is what I was afraid of. I told you!" he pointed his finger, "We should have left here when we had the chance."

"I know! But we can't get into that!" she pointed to the window. "We've got bigger problems, alright? Harry says they're enlisting Martial Law and they're putting people under quarantine."

Joel looked at him, "That right?"

"Yea. They've been shooting people again."

"Well that's what happens when we rip the Constitution in half, right?" Joel wiped his face. "So I say we head out west. Stick with plan B and take no excuses."

"She and I talked earlier today and I agree with you, Joel." Harry pulled out another toothpick. "West is the way to go."

The older man casted his eyes down before giving Tess a knowing look crossing his arms and mentally giving her his decision. She gave him a single nod. Harry knew that look. Their decision was final.

"Alright," she sighed, "Well, I hope you two gentlemen like to walk cross-country."

They took their time discarding their usual equipment upon the table for other wandering citizens to grab, things like an extra pair of shoes, mirrors, old gun powder, and leather belts. The darkness of the night would shield them from the guard patrol riding in their military vehicles, trying to spot troublemakers with a huge spot light attached to the roof. Harry followed them back to the inner walls of the compound and back up to their building. There they organized and repacked their cans of food, weapons, bullets, and shivs.

**The Next Morning**:

They were gone. They did leave a note stating that they'd return. Something urgent called both Tess and Joel to make a quick run outside the apartment walls. Harry, in the meantime, would keep a good watch. With such a large hive of important essentials, they couldn't risk being robbed.

He heard gunshots every once in a while.

Popping and echoing in the distance.

But those noises never irked him as it did before.

But hearing a woman scream was the worst. Wild-cat-crazy banshee screaming! It frightened the hell out of him. Looking at the doorknob across the room, Harry slowly slipped his wand from his front jacket pocket and carefully petted the long wooden stem as an owner to a pet. How long has it been? Rolling up his sleeve he saw the ink marks on his skin written in pen.

22 Days it read.

Nearly 3 weeks without using magic.

Harry knelt down and slipped his wand in his sock before looking one more time out the window and he pulled his hood over his head. Suddenly, Joel came walked through the door throwing his bag onto the couch cushion with a pretty bad attitude.

"Hey…" Harry greeted.

Then he saw a girl walk in.

"Hey," Harry stood like a gentleman. Old habits die hard.

She looked at him. "Hey."

"Who's this?"

Joel didn't answer.

"I'm Ellie—"

"There's a fucking change of plans," the oldest man sneered. "We had our guns stolen right from under our noses."

Harry gasped, "Does Tess know about this—"

"She's the one who lost them! Got jumped god knows where!" he waved his hand up in the air, angry. "Had to chase it down! We met up with Marlene and that fucking rat—"

Harry stood, "Wait…! Wait…! Marlene as in…?"

"The _Firefly Queen_, hell fucking yes." He pointed to the girl. "Before we leave the city we have to smuggle her. That was the deal."

"Why?"

"Marlene is the only woman who can give us what we need. All the ration cards we need and this morning our guns were stolen. So after we smuggle her we can go wherever the hell we want with weapons. And you have to help us…"

"Of course…"

Joel got comfortable on the couch while Harry sat in the corner of the room crossing his arms. He tucked his feet in and massaged his arms.

The girl stepped forward, "What do we do now?"

"Kill time…" Joel sighed, falling asleep.

"What am I suppose to do?" she raised a brow.

"I am sure you will figure that out..."

The girl, named Ellie, looked around the room and sat herself quietly in a sofa near the window. In no time Joel fell asleep. Walking on egg shells, Harry carefully tied his shoelaces and went to a nearby shelf to take out two glass cups and a jar of bourbon.

"You want anything?"

Ellie looked at him, "No. I'm 14…"

"Suit yourself…" he took a swig.

The liquid burned his throat like fire but he slowly began to appreciate the medicine that it provided for his mind and body. Leaning his head back to rest on his arm, he propped his legs up and allowed the silence to come. Closing his eyes, he slowly began to sleep. He would need the energy in a few hours.

"Where did you get that scar?" her small voice asked.

There was no need to open his eyes.

He sighed.

Touching his forehead, he cringed at his memories.

"It's a long, long story…"


End file.
